We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ryan Pierce. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ryan below.
Ryan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time where you or your team really helped a customer get an amazing result?
The past 2 years have been long and suffering. The pandemic has affected all of us in different ways. One bright spot during the pandemic was helping a client design and develop her website for her business startup. She had a particular vision of how she wanted her website to look. Through some trial and error and some collaboration, we were able to complete the website. It is something we are both very proud of. I went to school studying coding with a focus on HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I received my bachelor’s in May of 2020. This was my first real test in the field. My nerves were at an all-time high. Would what I learned in school come in handy? On our last zoom session, my client became emotional as her dream was becoming reality. Her emotion is something I will not forget. She expressed how she knows this is her purpose and how she wants to help people get through this mountain of an obstacle that many people face. No one was there to help her when she went through it and if she could lend a helping hand it could make a drastic difference in their life.
It was a great experience and we both came out encouraged.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi, let me introduce myself my name is Ryan Pierce. I am the Owner of Rpdezignz. Rpdezignz is a Photography and Graphic Design business. I got into photography through video games believe it or not. I noticed that whenever I played a game I became obsessed with replays and angles. The day I realized this I bought a camera and began looking at angels in the real world. From that moment I knew I was onto something. I have accepted employment with a couple companies to learn more about the photography industry and how to get the most out of your camera from experienced photographers. Now I have been the sports photographer for 3 different high school programs and I love every second of it. I believe every moment is a great moment, its my job to capture that moment. Art has always been in my DNA. It has followed me my entire life. I have drawn endless alien invasions in grade school. Its a great feeling working hard on something and being able to show that hard work to your client. It is a form of expression and there are no rules to art. The best part graphic design is collaborating with the client. Listening to what they are going for and finally finding what the client is going for.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
When I first got my camera, it was hard landing my first freelance job. I thought I was an expert after exploring with my camera for two days. My mindset was, how hard can it be? After trying and failing to land my first job for about 4 months, I decided to make my services free. I brought my camera everywhere and began taking pictures of pretty much anything. What I began to notice is my pictures would look great to me until I compared them to other professional pictures. That is when I began to research my camera and its verbiage. What lens is the best? What is aperture? What is ISO? What is shutter speed? I had so many unanswered questions and it was overwhelming. I expressed my curiosity over a job interview and got hired on the spot (surprising right?). Over a year I gained an understanding of what each setting does for me. At the end of that opportunity, I decided to offer my services free again but with a plan to sell the pictures at the end of the year. I had no idea if the athletes wanted action pictures. Once the end of the year gathering was upon us the athletes and parents all lined up at my table to see their pictures from the season. I got goosebumps as they all came at the same time. That is how I put together the initial capital to start my business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
There was a time I did have to change career paths. I wanted to work in a dental office all my life, I was okay being a dental hygienist, a dentist, or a dental assistant. The problem I ran into is I do not like science. Science is not a strong suit of mine and I had to take mainly science courses to get my diploma in that field. 20 years old and I had to choose another career. Luckily I had a great counselor that notices I was doodling the entire duration of our scheduled appointment. He is the one that introduced me to graphic art. Now here I am.
Contact Info:
- Website: rpdezignz.com
- Instagram: rpdezignz
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